Training gives medics confidence prior to deployments

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Andrew Davis
  • 375th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. (AFNS) --  It's utter chaos. A child injured by a roadside bomb is wheeled into surgery. A woman with facial burns is rushed in on a stretcher. A small boy with a severe leg injury hobbles into the room. Who do you treat first? Who can help? What medical supplies are on hand?

These are the questions deployed medics supporting expeditionary operations in Iraq and Afghanistan must ask themselves.

To help answer those questions and to help lifesaving medical personnel perform their jobs more efficiently and effectively, the Air Force partners with St. Louis University for a 14-day hands-on trauma course also known as Sustainment of Trauma and Readiness Skills. 

A dedication ceremony was held Feb. 17 at the Emergency Medicine Trauma Simulation Lab at SLU that was revamped recently to provide a more realistic training environment for medics who will be deployed in the area of operations. 

"The lab can simulate multiple patient trauma and help medical personnel make the decision on what to do with a patient, whether it be airlift them out, perform surgery or come up with an alternative plan," said Capt. Scott Fallin, a course administrator.

The new lab features life-like mannequins and provides an urban warfare training environment.

"The mannequins can simulate physiology, blood pressure, heart rate and other various vital signs," Captain Fallin said. "Through a centralized computer system, the trainers can change the vital signs of the patient to simulate a digression in health."

He said the mannequin has the replicated anatomy of a human being. Technology built into the human patient simulator, means the mannequin can come to life, and can die, as well. It can breathe, talk, choke and scream. The eyes dilate and blink. The heart beats. It even has bodily functions, such as urination. The mouth can drool and the eyes and ears can secrete fluid.

As an added enhancement to the scenarios, the instructor can control the mannequin's voice and even follow the vital signs of the simulated patient. When treatment is correct, the mannequin's condition improves. If incorrect, the patient's condition will worsen.

Medication (made of water) can also be injected into the mannequin, and a computer will tell if the correct medication was prescribed. Added chest tubes, IV hookups and hundreds more conditions and capabilities, the lab makes for a graphic, realistic and emotional simulation.

Maj. Eric Burdge, a student attending the course, raved about the advances in technology and how it will help him when he deploys.

"Floating between patients and learning how to delegate tasks in a trauma situation, I believe, is invaluable training," he said. "This simulation is much more advanced than normal. I think this will help me gain the necessary skills and experience I need for my upcoming deployment."

Physicians, physicians assistants, nurse practitioners, nurses and medical technicians scheduled to deploy are identified and then selected to train in the hospital. The program pairs Air Force medical personnel with SLU Hospital trauma doctors and hospital nurses to help the team care for real patients.

"Simulation is a great thing, but there is nothing that can match up [to] the real thing, and that is a majority of what students do here," Captain Fallin said.

To further enhance the quality of the training, many of the instructors have firsthand experience performing medicine in a deployed environment.

"The great thing we offer is that a majority of our instructors have been to either Iraq or Afghanistan," Captain Fallin said. "This gives the students a chance to train for what they will see in a deployed environment."

The goal of the course is to produce "ready medics," according to the Air Force Medical Service. The workload and clinical experiences sharpen and refresh medics' trauma care currency, increase the knowledge base, and help them become even more competent and confident medics.

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